Job 40 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 God continued speaking to Job.
1 Moreover Yahweh answered Job,
2 “Are you still going to fight with the Almighty and try to set him straight? Anyone who argues with God must give some answers.”
2 “Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
3 Job answered the Lord,
3 Then Job answered Yahweh,
4 “Me—I am nothing at all. I have no answers. I put my hand in front of my mouth.
4 “Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have already said far too much and I won't say anything more.”
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
6 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7 “Prepare yourself, be strong, for I am going to question you, and you must answer me.
7 “Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.
8 Are you really going to say my decisions are wrong? Are you going to condemn me so you can be right?
8 Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
9 Are you as powerful as I am? Does your voice thunder like mine?
9 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
10 Why don't you dress yourself with majesty and dignity, and clothe yourself with glory and splendor!
10 “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.
11 Let loose your fierce anger. Humble the proud with a glance.
11 Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.
12 Bring down the proud with your gaze; tread the wicked underfoot right where they are.
12 Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.
13 Bury them in the dust; lock them away in the grave.
13 Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.
14 Then I will also agree that your own strength can save you.
14 Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
15 Consider Behemoth, a creature I made just like I made you. It eats grass like cattle.
15 “See now behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.
16 Look at its powerful loins, the muscles of its belly.
16 Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.
17 It bends its tail like a cedar; its thigh sinews are strong.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18 Its bones are like bronze tubes; its limbs like iron rods.
18 His bones are like tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron.
19 It is the most important example of what God can do; only the one who made it can approach it with a sword.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.
20 The hills produce food for it, and all the wild animals play there.
20 Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.
21 It lies under the lotus; it hides in the reeds of the marsh.
21 He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.
22 The lotus covers it with shade; the willow trees of the valley surround it.
22 The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.
23 Even if the river is in flood, it is not concerned; it remains calm when the Jordan river surges against it.
23 Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.
24 No one can catch it while it is watching, or pierce its nose with a noose.”
24 Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Job 38:1; Job 40:6
- 2 1 Corinthians 2:16; Isaiah 40:14; Romans 11:34–36; Job 33:13; Isaiah 50:8
- 4 Proverbs 30:32; Job 29:9; Job 21:5; Job 42:6; Judges 18:19
- 5 Job 33:14; Psalm 62:11; Job 9:15; Job 9:3; Romans 3:19
- 6 Job 38:1; Psalm 50:3–4; 2 Peter 3:10–12; Hebrews 12:18–20
- 7 Job 38:3; Job 42:4; Job 23:3–4; Job 13:22
- 8 Romans 3:4; Job 32:2; Isaiah 28:18; Job 10:3; Psalm 51:4
- 9 Job 37:4–5; Isaiah 45:9; Psalm 89:13; Psalm 89:10; Exodus 15:6
- 10 Psalm 93:1; Psalm 149:4; Isaiah 59:17; Job 39:19; Psalm 104:1–2
- 11 Daniel 4:37; Isaiah 2:11–12; Isaiah 2:17; Nahum 1:6; Isaiah 10:12–19
- 12 Isaiah 63:3; Malachi 4:3; Psalm 60:12; 1 Samuel 2:7; Zechariah 10:5
- 13 Isaiah 2:10; Psalm 49:14; Job 36:13; Job 14:13; Esther 7:8
- 14 Romans 5:6; Psalm 44:3; Ephesians 2:4–9; Psalm 44:6; Isaiah 40:29
- 15 Psalm 104:14; Job 40:20; Genesis 1:24–26; Job 39:8
- 17 Job 41:23
- 18 Isaiah 48:4; Job 7:12
- 19 Job 41:33; Psalm 104:24; Job 26:13; Isaiah 27:1; Psalm 7:12
- 20 Psalm 104:26; Psalm 104:14; Job 40:15; Psalm 147:8–9
- 21 Isaiah 19:6–7; Isaiah 35:7
- 22 Isaiah 15:7; Leviticus 23:40; Ezekiel 17:5
- 23 Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 37:25; Isaiah 28:16; Joshua 3:15; Psalm 55:8
- 24 Job 41:1–2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draweth up Jordan into his mouth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)